


Cruelly, And With Love

by wyrvel



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Child Neglect, Dadborn, Depression, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied abuse, Other, PTSD Reborn, Parental Reborn, Sawada Iemitsu Bashing, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-14 05:02:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7999558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wyrvel/pseuds/wyrvel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reborn is observant. It's saved him time and time again. It's the skill that let him get what he wanted, when he wanted it. </p><p>Somehow, though, it always feels more useful when he has someone around to rely on it.</p><p>(A character study for Tsuna, Reborn, Shamal, and Dino, from the perspective of Reborn.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 2004: weak but not quite brittle

**Author's Note:**

> I just feel so strongly about Dadborn and meta that I needed to write this immediately lmao
> 
> I really needed something fresh and more canon to work with, without the stress of the fact everything I touch turns to invested longfic. This shouldn't be all that long by the time it's done.
> 
> And man, reading so much fanon Tsuna and then reading the manga sure is... _something_. Tsuna is so wilful and bold from the get-go, but also the type of dude who'd have a Twitter comprised of literally nothing but complaining about his life and self-depreciating memes.

 Sawada Nana probably recognizes him.

She didn't at first; he was just a rambunctious child she had accidentally bound to their house with a presigned contract. Despite that, she had accepted him easily enough. Tsuna's rebellious phase was clearly starting to take a toll on her willpower, and her goal wasn't really to make Tsuna _'better at school'_ , it was to help him come out of his shell, enjoy life, stop with his temperamental seclusion and avoidant personality. A preventative measure against him becoming a hikikomori by the time he hits high school. if anything, Reborn not being a handsome, successful high-school tutor is a _good_ thing; that might intimidate Tsuna, and it's so much easier to manipulate him into productivity with a baby.  _Take out little Reborn, Tsu-kun, go have fun with him_.

But she recognizes him more, now. She keeps catching herself chatting with him as an equal, and she makes espresso for Reborn, even though he never told her that was his preference. An old coworker of her husband's, maybe an underling, and one that hasn't aged a day in ten years. She has a better grip on Reborn's age than Tsuna does.

But she can't be _quite_ sure, so she still treats him as a child. Tsuna is at least better than her in that respect, though that's because Tsuna is a callous little shit.

She wasn't wrong about Tsuna's needs, at least. He _does_ need motivation. He's gotten himself secure in a tiny little shell, cozy and ignorant.

What she didn't notice was that his shell has edges.

It doesn't really say anything about her that she didn't notice. Tsuna's a rude little sidewalk turd, as most twelve-year-olds are. Plus, he loves his mother, cares for her deeply, and when you're as avoidant as Tsuna is, you'd much rather pull away from someone than face the problems that make you sick to think about.

And it does. Looking at his mom makes Tsuna sick. Reborn saw it within his first week of observation. Cloistered in his room, going out to eat every night, tucking himself away in a booth at the local Macdonalds, watching the other patrons in a bored, lifeless slump.

He's loud, brash, a bit of a whiner, more than a little rude, and self-centred. His arms and shoulders are never not moving. His eyes flick around like he's hunting for an excuse to get out of whatever situation he's currently in. Sometimes he recites conversations he'll never have under his breath. He recoils from the successful, but rather than resenting them, he turns all that loathing in on himself for not measuring up.

But the failures chew on him, spawning a loser's complex just to cope. It's almost funny how confident Tsuna is in how worthless he is, to the point he's _arrogant_ about it. The sheer glee Tsuna takes in tearing himself down is more than enough evidence for how badly the self-loathing has scarred him. Something deep in Tsuna acknowledges that he's unwanted, and there's nothing in this world that would ever make him worth anything, and if he doesn't extract some comfort out of that, then life isn't worth living.

Each edge is a new form of evasiveness. Hiding in the corner until popular students pass him by. Rigidly holding his bag in front of him defensively, as if expecting to be punched in the gut, even though nothing of the sort's ever happened to him. The little shiver as he tries to walk towards a group of people chatting, only to march right past them as if he never intended to join. The quiet resignation with every 'Dame-Tsuna'.

To Tsuna, the world is hostile and confusing and scary, and the more he's proven right, the worse he makes it with his seclusion and insecurity. If left unattended, Tsuna would probably enter adulthood with some form of addiction and depend on an allowance from his mother and a part-time job he hates to afford his antidepressants. 

But most of the time, Tsuna is just a little shit. He's weak, for sure, but not quite _brittle_. He's made of a damp sack of jello, rather than glass. Reborn can work with jello.

It's just odd, is all. It's just terribly _odd_ that Tsuna seems to take so much pleasure in his worthlessness, yet seems terrified of people he cares the most about, to the point that he flees from the mere illusion of rejection. Reborn has seen him be actually, actively rejected, and he came out of it just fine.

Irrational fear of rejection isn't really the modus operandi of a person who has grown accustomed to being the most unreliable, worthless kid in class. Fear of failure is what Reborn expects the most, the assumption that Reborn had in mind when doing anything, from the dying will bullet to the vicious punishments for giving up. No one truly  _likes_ being worthless, and the affirmation that it's all he's going to be is bound to keep Tsuna perpetually anxious. 

Fear of rejection is a little stranger, because Tsuna has been used to this for so _long_. Tsuna really is gleeful in his self-flagellation; his mother probably picked up on the 'dame' tick from her son's own bragging. Tsuna doesn't care that she does it, so it isn't as if his mother is prone to rejecting him. His peers' irritation combined with Tsuna's desire for self-betterment might do it, but - no, he's too wrapped up in the white noise of his loser's complex, a second complex shouldn't form like that.

It doesn't sit quite right on Reborn's tongue. 

One morning, Reborn comes down to the kitchen to a cup of espresso. He sips it as he watches Nana busy herself with breakfast.

"...What was raising Tsuna like?" 

She pauses.

"Ah...Hm. He was quieter as a child. A little sweetheart, really."

Reborn finds this hard to believe. Tsuna is an asshole. 

"Really? I don't see it."

"Really? Well...ah." She puts down the spatula and leans on the counter. "He's been annoying lately, I know. He keeps skipping class, and he's always in his room reading manga. Lately he keeps going out, too. I've stopped giving him an allowance, you know, but he still borrows some to get a bite to eat. It's like he doesn't want to be in the same house as me. He doesn't have any friends. Then his grades, and his physical aptitude...It's worrying me, you know, as his mother."

"Was there any event to cause the change?"

"Not that I know of. He's just...closed off, maybe." She folds her arms and leans against the stove, facing Reborn. "You know, when your child becomes more independent, it's supposed to be a great time to get your second wind, and start exploring new interests and hobbies, right? But I'm afraid to leave the house. It feels like if he comes back to an empty home he'll just get worse. It's only a feeling, but..."

...It doesn't sit quite right on Reborn's tongue.


	2. 2004: two human catastrophes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wtf!!! thank you for the reception you guys are so kind to me????? I got way more used to never getting comments than anyone as obsessed with their own work as I am strictly should be
> 
> anyway, in today's episode: REBORN IS A SUPER BAD PERSON
> 
>  **Warnings:** Murder (I'm sorry,, I'm so predictable......,,,), alcoholism

Shamal has a student. 

Reborn has to physically restrain himself from immediately dialling his number. It's bad form.

But Shamal has a student. It's someone he knows, too, in more ways than one; a blip catalogued on the Vongola Persons Of Interest list, the buzzing background noise of Bianchi's interests.

He never knew Shamal had a student.

He _absolutely_ knew that Shamal had no proteges. Shamal was always vehement about that. Something about their own relationship felt impossible to truly past on, or ruin, or improve upon. It was just a series of events strung loosely together by two human catastrophes who had no right to be associating with each other. It wasn't even truly chaotic, like Reborn's usual methods of talent-rearing.

It was just _bad._

Reborn is really proud of Shamal, taking on a student after that.

He's told Shamal has a student after Iemitsu leaves him a message (he's perpetually too busy to maintain a phone call), and uses the words 'he was trained by Shamal' like a magical phrase that will make Reborn immediately hire the boy and throw him at Tsuna at the earliest possible convenience.

Well, that's exactly what Reborn is doing right now. It's just annoying that Reborn could be considered predictable. 

This isn't the first time Reborn has fallen back on his biases; he started working with Bianchi when he heard Shamal was the one who treated her and produced her for mafia education. Bianchi has two Flame aspects that she's equally proficient at, and she was easy to work with. Reborn even 'dated' her for a short period of time, but only because she somehow found a few of his old personal effects and he needed a reason to search her house every night. He is now immune to most of the world's poisons. 

Reborn used to pride himself on his asocial attitude back when he was a young fool just barely into his mid-twenties, but now, in his sixties, he finds himself gravitating towards friendly faces more and more each day.

Well, this face isn't friendly. Gokudera Hayato is currently trying to explode Tsuna's skin right off his body. Tsuna doesn't have an interesting reaction to this; it's mostly just screaming.

Still, Reborn noted on his second lesson that Tsuna has a lot more concern for others than your average middle-schooler. Tsuna is callous and rude, sure, but he has a decent amount of consideration for other people's feelings, and he respects those who make an effort. Good traits to work on.

It's no surprise that when Gokudera drops his dynamite, Tsuna's dying wish is to protect him.

It almost seems rote. Almost.

It's just that Tsuna seems more terrified of Gokudera when he likes him than he does when he hates him.

 

* * *

**|||**

* * *

 

Sawada Tsunayoshi is in love.

Within the same definitions as any middle-schooler's feelings can be catagorized, anyway. It's not much more genuine than his idolized crush on The Only Person Who Has Ever Been Nice To Him: Cute Girl. This target, on the other hand, is The Only Person Who Has Ever Been Nice To Him: Cute Boy. He is not a child of profound distinction.

Tsuna's fascination with Yamamoto Takeshi is primarily in envy rather than desire. Tsuna doesn't hold hostility to those who are better than him, so his default state is to worship popular people, and Yamamoto's masculinity is appealing to Tsuna. But now that Yamamoto is _nice_ to him, he has become Best Human, Superb Existence.

Gokudera is currently out of the country retrieving all of his things; he won't be able to take any new contracts while in Namimori, so he needs the stockpile in preparation for being a dirt poor Japanese citizen. As long he is, Tsuna can spend less time being anxious and afraid of him, and more time mooning over his latest Favourite Person. 

This is actually something Dino used to do a lot, before Reborn wrung it out of him. Their family was so broken that the smallest bit of respect towards them was like diamonds falling into Dino's hands. The main difference here is that Dino hated himself and felt bad and withdrawn about it, and Tsuna is the type of person who insults himself so frequently that his mom caught his lack of self-image like it was a cold virus.

But right now, Tsuna is in love with a cute boy, and wants to be friends with him immediately, and self-loathing _cannot be tolerated_. 

The courting process is a little simpler than it is for someone he actually wants to date. Mainly attempting to look way more competent than he actually feels. He does seem at least _slightly_ aware that being a garbage person isn't a great way to make friends. Building blocks to work upon, right there.

Tsuna succeeds in his endeavour. Reborn will chalk that up to the fact the Yamamoto boy is clearly desperately lonely, and will lower himself to Tsuna's level if it means he'll get to laze around in _someone's_ bedroom while talking about sports and videogames this summer.

Yamamoto Takeshi not someone Reborn recognizes, but his father is, in a way. He had met Tsuyoshi only once, years ago. Shenanigans were had. Shamal almost had his head cut off. Great times. Reborn never knew what he did with his life, but according to the file Iemitsu gave him on Namimori, he has killed _quite a lot of people_.

It's unsurprising, considering what Reborn remembers of him.

 

* * *

**1984**

* * *

 

Shamal tripped over a bag of beer cans.

He stumbled for a second, but caught himself before he fell into the third and fourth bags. 

"Thank you for cleaning up," he called.

"I don't need to be thanked for something like that."

Shamal fished a beer for himself from the fridge. "I've been nagging you about it forever, though."

"And I've been concentrating." 

Shamal wandered into the bedroom, with a noiseless tread he learned from Reborn himself. 

Reborn was sitting on the bed, in a stained hawaiian-print shirt that had seen better days, and a ratty brown hat that had only seen bad ones. On the headboard and the wall above were countless notes and articles, with red threads pinned from one piece of paper to another.

"Trying to catch a serial killer?"

"No."

"Aliens?"

"Put that back in the fridge. It's for me."

Shamal took a pointed sip. "I'm a teenager now. I can drink beer."

"We bought cider for a reason. Put it back."

"I don't see why I can't drink. You're a _baby_." Shamal slid the can onto the desk and came closer. "What are you looking up, anyway?"

Reborn gestured to the left-hand side of his information map. "We're leaving the country, but someone knows I'm here, and wants me dead."

"Do they know who you are? Who you used to be?"

"Don't know. Can't really rely on a nine-year-old's identity-erasing skills in this day and age." Reborn got up and waddled over to the end table to finish the only remaining beer can. "That's why I called them over."

Shamal froze. "You _WHAT_?"

There was a deafening _**boom**_ , and the sound of something heavy - most likely the door - falling onto the beer can bags. 

"R-REBORN! You can't honestly expect to be able to take them!" 

"I'm the best hitman in the world," Reborn grumbled.

_"You're drunk!"_

Reborn pulled out a gun and aimed it carefully. He pulled the trigger. The bullet lodged into the doorframe at an awkward angle, and the kick jolted the gun from his hands. 

He looked at it, with a numb combination of dread and acceptance, and then turned around to finish his beer. 

Shamal took the gun and finished the job the moment the hitman opened the door. 

 

* * *

**III**

* * *

 

They met Yamamoto Tsuyoshi while trying to get rid of the body.

There was no Vongola to clean it up, and they couldn't afford a Cleaner, so they had to move it to someone who disposed bodies on the cheap. This is not an easy thing to do as a 13-year-old in China who doesn't know any Asian languages running around with his drunk baby master who is far too busy having an existential crisis to contribute. Reborn decided to excuse his episodes as 'independence training' a long time ago, and Shamal is too resigned to complain about it.

Shamal was doing pretty good, to his credit, up until he propositioned a Japanese tourist with a sword.

Reborn was almost willing to let it go, up until the Japanese Tourist found out the illegal stuff they wanted to move was a dead body, and decided to experiment with the decapitation abilities of a katana. Reborn managed to collect just enough enough energy to jump on his back and slam his head into the wall.

Shamal got a cut along lower back and wouldn't stop crying the whole time they were escaping.

It got infected a week later.

It would be the seventeenth time Shamal would almost die since he started travelling with Reborn, and it would be the seventeenth time Reborn has ever bothered to pray since the autumn of 1965.

 

* * *

**2004**

* * *

 

Yamamoto Takeshi tries to kill himself, and Reborn tries very, very hard not to feel vindicated by it. 

Tsuna makes his first real friend. It has a nice sense of symmetry to it.


	3. 2004: sneaky little scumbags

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to go a little slower with the story. Maybe it'll be longer after all?
> 
> Anyway I tried to not do Flame lore but...shucks I love me some Flame lore

Tsuna doesn't go to bed right away.

It was a happy resolution, talking a friend down from suicide and then saving his life on top of that. For a child as simple-minded yet sharply-focused as Yamamoto's son, that's as good as a contract for Forever Friends.

But the complete annihilation of any possibility of being rejected doesn't seem to do Tsuna any favours. He gets something to eat and stares off into space in the dark. It's the middle of the damn night. This can't be good for his sleep schedule. 

Reborn emerges from the shadows to stand next to Tsuna, who barely acknowledges him.

"You were ready to let him jump," he deduces.

Tsuna jumps and flails around wildly. "N-N-NO! I didn't want Yamamoto to jump, I just-"

"You were afraid of the guilt and the responsibility of being the cause." 

Tsuna freezes, and his high-strung posture steadily relaxes with resignation. "It's not like I was gonna leave him..."

"You were going to hide and hope everything resolved itself."

Tsuna sinks like he's trying to get the ground to absorb him. He doesn't respond.

"It was reckless and irresponsible. Not only did you let him down with lazy advice-" Tsuna visibly flinches- "You refused to take responsibility of the fallout. If I weren't here with you, he could have _died_."

Tsuna's lip trembles, and his eyes brim with tears. He can't even look Reborn in the eye. "I didn't mean to."

"Even if you weren't becoming the Decimo - and trust me, you are - that kind of behaviour is unacceptable."

Tsuna hides behind his hands, tugging at his hair in anxious little pulls. The chastisement isn't sliding off like it usually does, and each statement from Reborn is connecting like a lance through his heart.

Another piece of the puzzle clicks into place.

Tsuna doesn't want to let people down.

He can tolerate being hated by someone he's barely spoken to, or ditching a fight he has no reason to participate in, but he carries the responsibility of disappointment. If someone has any reason to believe he's worth something, it's genuine agony to let them down. He let Yamamoto Takeshi down by failing to give him good advice, and failed again by being a good friend who could realistically talk him out of his fake suicide attempt. 

(The fact Yamamoto was _pretending_ to be suicidal is possibly even more worrisome than if he were serious - suicide attempts are generally a final burst of desperation from a perceived unwinnable scenario. _Fake_ suicide attempts are a symptom of a much deeper issue, one that Reborn just...doesn't have the emotional energy to fix. Coming from someone as intense as Yamamoto, there's an added danger of each proposition of self-harm ending up turning _real_ just to make the stakes higher. It is at best unhealthy and at worst the very picture of Reborn's childhood, which is a thing nobody deserves to resemble.)

"He's the closest thing to a member of your Famiglia now," Reborn says, which makes Tsuna groan, "and he's your friend. If you feel guilty for how you acted today, make up for it by being there for him. He's obviously put a lot of stock in you."

"He shouldn't. I'm a terrible friend."

"It doesn't take much to be a friend. All you have to do is not avoid him, be nice, and have an ounce of genuine emotion. You can be a human disaster and still manage friends." Reborn starts kicking Tsuna in the head. "Now get to bed. I want you up early tomorrow."

Tsuna sniffles and mops his eyes with his sleeves. "Stupid baby."

Reborn grabs the back of his collar so he chokes. "That's stupid _tutor_ , to you."

 

* * *

  **|||**

* * *

 

Tsuna feels a little better after a week of greeting Yamamoto in the hallways and not getting punished for it. Yamamoto blows off all of the people frustrated that he's hanging out with Dame-Tsuna with a frankly worrying laser-like focus. Sometimes he'll wait for Tsuna in some hidden corner, and sometimes he'll come in late and sprint to catch up with Tsuna on his route. He settles down when he gets Tsuna's positive reaction, and it tells Reborn a little about how he even got to the point of 'tell the whole school I'm going to jump off the roof'. 

Attention-seeking. Rejection from peers? In a popular student like Yamamoto, it should be spawned from idolization. Successful, gorgeous sporty type in the vicious, cutthroat world of Japanese middle schools. One misstep could trigger a class revolting against you, and no one wants to be the next Dame-Tsuna. To everyone, it's fine enough just being distantly friendly, but to Yamamoto, it'd be a glass prison. That sort of situation requires Yamamoto to take the initiative, but without any positive reinforcement, there's a mental block, making him wary of how well he'll be received. He doesn't _understand_ that people are perfectly willing to get to know him as a person too, because he's _thirteen_ , and children are terrible. Objectively. 

Still, the frustration that everyone didn't come out of the womb already at age 30 is thankfully offset by the fact it is the funniest thing in the world to see the son of the person who tried to kill his last student sprinting down the road to catch up with his newest student because he's paranoid friendships turn off if you don't say hi every morning, while Tsuna is simultaneously paranoid about the _exact same thing_.

Objectively.

Reborn takes a sip of his mediocre coffee (no offense to Nana, but he has cultured tastebuds) as Yamamoto slows to a stop and hovers uncertainly at the street corner until he sees Tsuna turning in. He steps out and assumes a posture that suggests that he _was_ waiting for Tsuna, but only because they're friends and he wanted to catch up. He's a surprisingly good actor for a desperate ball of nerves.

Yamamoto spends a lot of time chatting with Tsuna about stuff they saw on TV and Sawada Nana's flighty and rapidly oscillating hobbies, and there's no sense of desperation to engage, even when leaving - they just wave at each other.  

Reborn considers that when he lands on Tsuna's shoulder, ignoring the child's squawk of protest. Yamamoto's simple-mindedness is almost cartoonish. He treats his friendship with Tsuna like a relationship in a point-based videogame. 

He plays it _exactly_ like a relationship in a videogame.

Reborn puts his hand on his face and squeezes his cheeks very tightly so he doesn't guffaw out loud, like some kind of amateur. 

 

* * *

  **III**

* * *

 

Reborn cannot deal with not having espresso anymore. He just _can't._

Gokudera finishes moving to Japan tomorrow. He's not being paid - he won't until Tsuna takes over the Vongola - and he claims he wants to _dedicate himself to the Tenth_ instead of picking up on any new jobs in the area. Funny.

The mafia activity is picking up in the region, which is putting him in a bad mood that not even the Yamamoto family's suffering can mend. Several families are moving into the area. Someone tried busting into Vongola land last week. The local yakuza is getting nervous. One of their black sheep members flipped him off in the street, once, so they obviously know what's going on. It's a hell of a month for him. He can certainly leave Tsuna alone for a few hours; all the kid is going to do is use it as downtime to relax with something to read, because he's lazy and useless.

The coffee shop just down the street is nice, polished, and smells fantastic. Reborn takes a moment to analyze the drink given to other customers. They look _superb_. He feels, for the first time since he touched down in Namimori, like he's at home.

He moves to pull out his wallet, and makes a disappointed grunt when he realizes he had used the chain to threaten to dislocate Tsuna's pinky for trying to punch him and left it back in his room. Tsuna's unflappable nature exceeds Dino's by leagues, to Bianchi degrees, even. Reborn has never bullied anyone who had this little of a reaction. He supposes Tsuna is just _used_ to people treating him like garbage. 

Oh no, now Reborn is doubting his own methods. 

Well, if Tsuna doesn't mind hitting, psychological warfare works okay too.

But the point stands; no wallet. Oh well. He is, after all, quite the charmer.

Reborn approaches the counter and taps his shoes to get the barista's attention. "I forgot my wallet, so get me an espresso on credit."

The girl, instead of exasperated compliance, just stands there and looks a little worried. "Honey...where's your parents? Are you lost? Do you need me to take you to the police station?"

Reborn makes a snap calculation. If he remembers correctly, the local station is ran by two men who are controlled by the yakuza, and there is a 20% chance that he may have to interact with one of the most infuriating genetic Flame abilities on the planet, and that is something he just does not want to do when his mood is already this terrible and he _hasn't gotten his espresso_.

All pretenses of elegance thrown out the window, Reborn pulls a gun on the woman. "Do it and the police station will be covered in blood."

"S-Sweetie, if you keep on with that, I'll call the store owner!"

"That'll make things easier." If he can't _buy_ the coffee, he can blackmail until coffee is delivered unto him.

But it never gets that far, because Tsuna's crush arrives to pay for him instead.

Reborn likes Kyouko. In terms of Famiglia, he'd rather have her brother, on account of him having a skillset Reborn's familiar with enough to utilize well and him not being _another Sky_. 

Kyouko's Sky aspect isn't the leadership kind that boosts people to greatness, it's just very pleasant, and almost sticky. She's integrated better than Tsuna, which is honestly so, _so_ pathetic, and makes Reborn want to bully Tsuna more on principle. 

Anyway, he doesn't like a bunch of Skys in the upper ranks. Causes discord. He needs to junk her somehow.

"Would you like to have tea at our house?" Reborn asks innocently. "Tsuna would love to have friends over."

"Oh, that would be nice! I'm not really doing anything today." She pays for Reborn's espresso - which tastes _wonderful_ \- and buys something a little like tea but with 90% more foam.

Tsuna is, of course, delighted, because middle-schoolers are insufferable and easy to please in equal measures. Ah, puppy love. Makes people so easy to manipulate. 

Tsuna has started as close to the bottom as you can get with Flame integration - Reborn can't even really read his potential. Naturally, he doesn't react to the soothing, warm glue of Kyouko's presence, and she doesn't seem to register his presence either. Reborn decides his punishment will be to be as unnecessarily mean about junking her as possible.

Tsuna is so high-strung as it is, though. Reborn has to strangle him to keep him from getting handsy. The feeling of someone much bigger encircling him makes Reborn's skin _crawl_ , and someone as worthless as Tsuna doing it is conceptually offensive to him.

Nana comes in with snacks and mistakes Kyouko for Tsuna's girlfriend in the process, unwittingly setting the bait. Kyouko visibly recoils at the term 'no good', because she didn't just spend the last month listening to Tsuna wax eulogies to how pathetic he is within these walls. Nana probably didn't even notice it was an insult at this point. It is admittedly quite funny.

Reborn loads three bullets - a joke shot, a Dying Will Bullet, and a medical shot that'll keep her in stasis just in case she doesn't have any regrets so he can treat her. He won't need it, but not preparing it anyway is how arrogance blossoms.

He proposes Russian Roulette with the joke shot, and Kyouko loses in one turn with the next.

She drops to the floor with a thud, a mix between melted red material and blood pooling from his skull.

He can feel the atmosphere equalizing, making his chest itch under the Pacifier; she's a Passive type, then. 

"Ah. I loaded the dying will bullet," Reborn notes with false realization, because he's being a jerk today, and it feels great.

The atmosphere change texture again. Reborn ignores Tsuna's screaming. 

Sky Flames inherently resonate with the atmosphere around them, making Sky users unfairly strong in every situation ever, even against Mist users. Tsuna's purity level is better than hers, and she's never used Flames before (and if she has, Reborn has _Questions),_ so she shouldn't be able to match it, and will instinctively switch to...

Dead skin and tattered pieces of clothing explode off her, and the Flame on her forehead is a soft, smokey white glowing with indigo shades.

Mist. That's...That's really weird. Reborn could have sworn she'd be a Sun.

Well, all's well that ends well. Kyouko's Sky aspect is now solidly junked. Anyone who tries to read her will think she's a Mist. She's been flawlessly neutralised. She'd require training to ever use Sky Flames again, even, and that's training Reborn will never, _ever_ supply. The world needs more Mists that aren't sneaky little scumbags, anyway. Reborn did good work today.

Or not, he realizes as he sees Kyouko thoroughly destroy the entire house, trying to force Nana to retract a meaningless insult.

With a 1 ton hammer (which used to be _actually_ 1 ton, back when he was six feet tall and used it as a weapon for rampaging bullet users, but is now only barely heavy enough to break the floorboards when he tosses it to the ground), he channels enough Sun Flames into the handle to make his vision double and the Pacifier burn like a parched throat and pounds the bullet right out of her head. The reformation of the liquidized bullet would be lethal if anyone else tried it, which is why he's the best. 

All in a day's work for the world's greatest tutor.

(If only Tsuna would stop screaming about it.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Proposition:** Trying to murder an ignorant civilian middle-schooler for an entry-level test and eating all of Tsuyoshi's stock feels unnecessarily cruel and disproportionate to how he deals with other characters  
>  **Hypothesis:** Reborn is a horrible, bitter old man and a bully
> 
> Sorry for the lack of Dadborn. It's early-series Reborn, which means an unrepentant jerkass who puppetmasters everyone around him. Most of the fluff will be in flashbacks until we get into the later story arcs.
> 
> (P.S. DET was written as if all this extra stuff were just things that were happening in the background of canon, so all of that is still an aspect of this story. RIP @ the entire Urayama wing and Gi U lmfao)


	4. 2004: equally absolute

Reborn realizes, distantly, that he had expended so much energy being smarmy about how socially maladjusted Yamamoto Takeshi was that he forgot about Gokudera Hayato.

Just. All of him. In general.

"Do I look okay?" Gokudera squeaks when Reborn picks him up from the airport. "Do I look cool enough?"

"You don't need a look, you need _skill,"_ Reborn responds while fighting back an eyeroll.

This, of course, flies over Gokudera's head. He wrings his hands anxiously with a wild shadow over his eyes. "As his right-hand man, I have to at least look the part. He should look at me and...and _want_ me there."

Gokudera is very similar to Yamamoto in his fixative behaviour, desperation to please, and absurd level of incompetence only a child could manage, but unlike his companion in Guardianship, he never learned how to hide any of this, and he doesn't have the observational power to tell when it is or isn't a good time to overperform. He's precisely like his sister, with half the self-esteem. Reborn doesn't know how Shamal ever tolerated him.

Gokudera has no people skills to speak of, but as they head back to his new apartment, he certainly notices the Underworld beating underneath Namimori's skin. Reborn usually shakes his tails with sneakiness and slightly more spartan training sessions, but he's interested in Gokudera's usual process, so he doesn't bother. Eventually, the pressure is too much for Gokudera to stomach.

"Reborn," the boy growls, "we got company."

"Don't want to lead them back to your place. As a member of Tsuna's family, you could do at least this much...right?"

"O-Of course!" Gokudera goes beet red and fumbles with his box of cigarettes. "I got this!"

Gokudera lights one and slides his long piano fingers under his shirt where countless bombs are likely secured, snarling at the tail behind them. It's just the local yakuza again. They have an agreement with the Vongola, but unfortunately, they also hate the Vongola. They might beat up Gokudera just to fuck with him.

The black sheep is here too, but it seems he was just stalking them for his own amusement; he looks kind of confused and intrigued at the confrontation. When he sees Reborn looking at him, he flips him off, mouths something rude, and vanishes in a swirl of apple red hair.

"The hell do _you_ want?"

"We don't like mafia activity in our town," one says. A member of the Peach Association, if Reborn remembers correctly. 

"Tough shit! If you really don't like it, you'll have to beat me out of here!"

The Peach man snarls. His shorter friend - good clothes, sleek presentation, expensive cologne, main family member - holds his hand up to silence him and smiles placidly.

"We're just concerned, you know." He raises his eyebrows. _"Hitmen."_

 _You're not true Vongola,_ is what he means. Reborn is a childhood friend of Timoteo, and Gokudera is just clinging to someone who can eventually take the mantle, so they're not technically wrong. He heard these people like to give Iemitsu shit too, though that might be because he had raised hell with them a long time ago and they're all a bunch of petty little children who keep grudges for decades. Reborn heard if you steal their change at checkout they'll bankrupt your entire store. It's a group of like-minded souls. 

"I'm Vongola," Gokudera starts, but it dies out with an unsure little whine. His eyes dart to Reborn, then back up again. "I'm...I'm the...I work for the Tenth."

"'Aint a Tenth, is what I heard. It's the Ninth that runs things."

"Well obviously they're hiring a new fucking boss! It's not that hard!" Gokudera shoves a fist full of dynamite in their direction. He's gritting his teeth hard, and Reborn notes his cigarettes are made out of something thicker and denser than paper. It's probably why the end glows so bright. "I'm not getting into your business, so fuck off!"

"Scary little boy," the man croons, but he backs off, sparing Reborn one last look. "Don't meddle in our business."

Reborn tips his hat at them, the one long, unending internal whine of disappointment invisible on his stony face. Kyouko's brother is alright, he supposes, but he had _such_ a good Sun candidate in there. This is a tragedy. These people aren't mafia; it isn't as if he can ask if he can pretty please borrow one of their own. 

The conversation itself was just barely an annoyance to Reborn, but Gokudera collapses into a heap, sweating profusely. "T-The...What about the...or...Are we going to get _deported_?"

"What?" Reborn asks, before he understands and puts his hands in his pockets to strike a cool pose, since Gokudera seems easily baited by that sort of thing. "Everything's been cleared, and we're here with full permissions. The yakuza here are more than happy to host the Vongola and its allies."

"E-Eh?" Gokudera droops, visibly disappointed he was never in any real danger. "What was that all about?"

"They don't want to share their toys." Reborn hops onto Gokudera's back, and immediately regrets it. His hair smells like manure and chemical smoke. "Come now. I want to see your piano. Your sister says it's wonderful."

Reborn relishes at the full-body shiver underneath him.

 

* * *

  **|||**

* * *

 

 Gokudera isn't happy to find out about Yamamoto.

"Reborn-san, are you really planning on letting him into the family?"

A kid like Yamamoto would die for Tsuna in a heartbeat, but Reborn doubts that matters to Gokudera, who probably sees that as a given. He's mad because some average civilian is attached to Tsuna, and there's simply nothing to be done about that. He's already decided that to be a civilian is to be frail, worthless, and a thing Gokudera had to graduate from in order to be worthy of jobs like these.

He meets Gokudera's unflinching hatred with an equally absolute argument. "I'm not planning to. It's already been decided." 

Below them, Yamamoto tries to elbow Tsuna in the shoulder, again, but misses, again, and hits him in the temple, again. Reborn wonders if that was the right approach to take. Gokudera completely loses himself to his superiority and his projected insecurities. Reborn loses interest in Gokudera's complaints and zones out, considering how to take care of this. That Lambo child that barged into their house yesterday had some interesting weapons, so he wouldn't be losing much stock by using it all. Lambo annoys him anyway. If it weren't for the bazooka, Reborn would have seriously doubted the kid is human.

Actually, no, he doesn't believe in time travel. _Probably_ not human. He wishes the Bovino would actually do business with other families so Reborn would have an excuse to find out why that is. 

Hm. Anyway, he's got extra weapons at his disposal, and Gokudera has just brought his stock over. Shouldn't be a problem.

He looks up to Gokudera. "Do you want to test his mettle?"

It works. Gokudera is desperate for an excuse to validate all the issues he was projecting onto Yamamoto, and he immediately stops complaining. While they're in class, Reborn stocks up, and takes Tsuna for a relaxing break at the pool to give Gokudera time to measure Yamamoto out before the test actually begins. Tsuna likes relaxation, but he also likes complaining, so it's not as enjoyable as Reborn would have liked.

When he feels like Gokudera has had enough time to make Yamamoto's life as miserable as Tsuna is making his, he actually tells Tsuna what happened that morning. Tsuna complains, but one of his issues is that it's bothersome to Yamamoto, so that's nice.

Also nice is that Gokudera is obedient enough to not actually attack Yamamoto despite all the time Reborn gave them alone. He looks like he would like nothing better, and Yamamoto's straightforward personality only makes that desire worse.

Reborn introduces himself in a straightforward way, and Yamamoto introduces himself in a straightforward way in turn. He's mature for his age, and prone to seeing things practically - obviously a small child plays games, obviously you should pander to them to encourage their growth, et cetera and so on. The important thing is he said "I'd like to join the Vongola family", so now Reborn is justified in doing whatever he wants to him. 

He starts with knives.

Fast. Good reflexes. The Bovino creature followed him, probably to dramatically reclaim all the weapons Reborn took. Reborn ignores him and fires the crossbow. The little cow-thing takes out a missile launcher, but they're easier to dodge than crossbow bolts, so Reborn doesn't bother interrupting that, and picks something harder to just run away from - a machine gun. The eldest of Timoteo's siblings got shot. Avoiding bullets is an integral skill.

Lambo keeps going, but missiles still can't outclass bullets. Controlling paths might work.

"Feel free to join in. Go after Yamamoto with killing intent."

Since Lambo and Gokudera both use explosives that limit range, it'd be unfair to use bullets. Reborn switches to a bazooka - all they have to do is find a way to remove themselves from the strike range.

Lambo increases the speed of his missiles with Flame energy. They're headed straight for Reborn, so it's not a problem. When it all detonates, all Yamamoto has to do is skid to the left and hide Tsuna from the blast. Since Lambo's strikes were closer to Reborn and Gokudera, it must have looked quite impressive. 

It's certainly enough for Gokudera, who accepts Yamamoto with an open heart and a forward tug of the shirt. "Good job. You protected the Tenth, so I have no choice but to admit you're part of the family. But I'm the Tenth's right hand. You can just be the shoulder blade."

Reborn can visibly witness Yamamoto calculating Gokudera's threat to his relationship with The Only Person Who Has Ever Shown Him Kindness: Cute Boy, determining him to be a Problem, and contrasting that against the fact they're on the same team. 

He throws an arm around his shoulder, laughs, and calls Gokudera an ear lobe.

All's well that ends well. Reborn didn't have a strong image of who would be the right hand anyway, he may as well let them bicker over it.

The noise reminds him of doing jobs in his old body, his old life. Reborn doesn't know if that's a comfort or not.

**Author's Note:**

> Rough timeline for the story:  
> 1931 - Daniela becomes Vongola Ottovo  
> 1940 - Reborn is born  
> 1965 - Arcobaleno are turned into babies  
> 1980 - Reborn comes out of hiding  
> 1989 - Timoteo becomes Vongola Nono  
> 1999 - Reborn tutors Dino  
> 2004 - Reborn tutors Tsuna


End file.
